The Armor of God | Wade Branch

Well, good morning, everybody. It is a great day to be here

together. It's a wonderful day to worship

our God. I'm happy to be here and I'm

happy you're here. And we have a wonderful set of

scriptures to study if you want to open to Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

We're going to be finally finishing this book after many

months of going through this, and we're finishing up with the

topic of the armor of God. And I know many of you in here

know what this is, but I hope that it will mean something to

you today in a way that is fresh for you today.

I have confidence in God's Word that way.

God's Word is living and powerful and it has ways of

working on us through all of our life circumstances that can be

fresh today. And maybe it's not the same way

that you thought of it in the past or, or maybe it's not the

same thing that stuck out to you in the past.

But I hope you get something today that will equip you

because this isn't just some background information.

We're talking about our armor today.

We're talking about survival. We're talking about life and

death today. We all, I think, can learn

something or refresh on something that we needed today.

I definitely know there's a long list of things that I needed

from this. So I hope you do as we get into

the study. And if you don't know what the

armor of God is today, wonderful.

You need to know because this is a life or death matter.

So he starts out in this section of verses Ephesians chapter 6

Ephesians 6:10

verse 10 by saying finally my brethren, so this lesson is not

an isolated study on the Christian armor.

It is a extension of the thought that has begun throughout this

whole book. And he started by reminding

Christians of their spiritual blessings in Christ.

The first 3 chapters were all about reminding them that they

have spiritual possessions from the Father, that they have

spiritual possessions from the Son and from the Spirit.

And therefore he prays that they would be enlightened, that they

would have their minds awakened to see the wonderful blessings

that they have as Christians, and that that would help them to

see their position in Christ raised and seated on the throne,

reconciled and set in the temple.

And that they would then have an enablement because of that, that

they would turn and do something with that.

And the first thing that they would be walking in unity, that

they would walk unified with one another in the Holy Spirit and

God's Word. And that that we would walk in

purity, not as Gentiles, but that we will walk in love as

children of light, as wise, and that we would submit to one

another and love that husbands and wives would have the correct

relationship, that parents and children would have the correct

relationship, masters and servants.

And because of all that, because of the wonderful blessings, the

wonderful and great responsibility, and also because

of the task that he's just given us.

Therefore we need this. We need this teaching on the

armour based on everything we've learned because the last things

we study were challenging and they were may not maybe not

complicated, maybe it's not complicated the things he

taught, but they're not easy. And so we need armour.

We need to hear this last call for victory and call for the

armour of God to strengthen us and enable us for this great

work. So he says in verse 10, finally,

my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His

might. As I've studied this in the

past, I've read over this, but this, this is a key statement #1

he says be strong. What's the implication there?

The implication is that it's not going to be easy.

The implication is that if it your spiritual walk easy is

easy, maybe there's nothing going into your spiritual walk.

Maybe we are not putting strength into our spiritual

walk. It is going to require it of us

because of the enemy that we. Have and I don't have.

My notes open this so I need to fix the mode.

Sorry about that. We're we're rolling out OK.

So we need to know that it is going to be hard.

There is going to be challenges that we face in this walk.

That's part of the Christian walk, but it also reminds us

that where our strength comes from is the Lord.

We do not need to take our strength in ourselves.

We do not need to go out into this world confident in

ourselves. People talk about all the time

it's they bolster the individual so much that there's a lot of

pressure put on you and me to be something special.

And you know what? I'm special in the Lord and I am

capable in the Lord, not on my own.

And because of that, we can take power in his might.

Some commentators draw a distinction between power and

might. Some of them say might is 1's

kind of potential ability. If you look at a mighty man,

they're standing there maybe with a great physique, a great

powerful presence. That's might, they would say.

But then power is the exertion of that might.

Power is the ability to take that might and do something with

it. And our God says that we want to

take our strength in him, not just for potential, Not that you

would say, you know, I've got God on my side, but that that

would have a physical and a a real manifestation that that

would manifest itself in your life and in my life to the point

that we have the power of God working through us.

Not just God's might on a shelf as a trinket or something to

reference and comment about, but something that would take real

and impactful work in our life. Now if you think about it,

common sense wise, a soldier must have strength.

Before a soldier even gets into battle.

He has to go through basic training because his armour does

him no good if there's no strength behind that armour.

And you could maybe there's too many analogies going on here,

but if for you and I, we should be prepared to be strong with

the armour God's going to give us, that we would be armed, but

that we would be strong in the Lord to wear this armour and to

wield this armour of the Lord, that we will be strong in his

might. And that we will be prepared.

To use that strength, verse 11 says put on the whole armour of

God that you may be able to stand against the Wiles of the

devil. So before we dive into the rest

second-half of this verse, the armour of God and we often think

of it as the armour that that God is giving us to put on.

But I ran across an interesting reference to the Old Testament

here in Isaiah 59 verse 9. This is not the first time this

Isaiah 59:9

is referenced. The armor of God and

specifically certain pieces of the armor.

In Isaiah 59, the prophet says this justice is far from us, nor

does righteousness overtake us. We look for light, but there is

darkness for brightness, but we walk in blackness.

We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had

no eyes. We stumble at noonday as at

twilight. We are as dead men in desolate

places. The prophet is painting a very

bleak picture. He's saying as he's making

analogies, he's saying spiritually and maybe their

nation, their hope, their the things they're looking to,

they're they're lost. It's dark, it's hopeless.

We all growl like bears and moan sadly like doves.

We look for justice, but there is none for salvation.

But it is far from us. Justice is turned back, and

righteousness stands afar off, for truth is fallen in the

street. Verse 15 But listen to what it

says. Then the Lord saw it, and it

displeased him that there was no justice.

He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no

intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought

salvation for him. If you're familiar with that

phrase, the arm of the Lord is is how Isaiah references Jesus,

specifically the arm of the Lord that reaches down to man.

Therefore his own arm brought us, brought salvation for him,

and his own righteousness it sustained.

Him. For he put on righteousness as a

breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head.

He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was

clad with zeal as a cloak. So I don't know to the extent at

which we should dissect this because this is an Old Testament

reference and I believe this is a connection to Jesus and Jesus

putting on the righteousness himself and the helmet of

salvation and these things. But then it gets into much of

the Old Testament talk was of vengeance and repaying the

enemy. And that's not necessarily the

full picture of Jesus in the New Testament.

So I don't want to dive too much into this Old Testament

reference, but I'll just say this to make this point.

You could say, and, and I believe rightly say that this is

God's armor himself. Maybe you could say in the sense

that Jesus put on this armor when he was here on earth.

However you want to interpret that this, it says He put on

righteousness as a breastplate. Our own God has put on this

armor of breastplate of righteousness and a helmet of

salvation, It goes on to say according to their deeds.

Accordingly, He will repay fury to his adversaries, recompense

to his enemies. The coastlands He will fully

repay. So as we talk about the armor

today and who the real enemy is, this definitely applies to the

devil and his forces. The Lord will have vengeance at

the very least on these enemies. Verse 19, So shall they fear the

name of the Lord from the West and his glory from the rising of

the sun. Wow.

Verse 21, skipping on down, he says, As for me, says the Lord,

this is my covenant with them, My Spirit, who is upon you and

my words which I have put into your mouth, shall not depart

from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor

from the mouth of your descendants.

Descendants, says the Lord, from this time forevermore, what

we're studying today about using the sword of the Spirit, using

God's Word, using truth. I hear echoes of this in this

passage as well. He didn't say just for the Old

Testament, but for on this time and forevermore, the Lord's

people, we'll have the words of the Lord in their mouth and I'm

comforted by that. So this armor of God that we

were to put on, yes, it's for us, but in some.

Sense it is God's. Armor.

It is the armor of the even he wore.

Maybe that's in the sense of Jesus when he was walking the

earth, but this is a powerful armor that we're reading about.

And I don't know about you, but I want it.

If these are the the truths about it, I want this armor

verse 11. So he says put on the whole

armor of God. Does he say know all the facts

about the armor of God because I know many in here if I were to

ask for a show of hands would be able to say I know what the

armor of God is. Does he say know it?

Does he say have an understanding know he says put

it on and if nothing else from today you get from this study

and from refreshing this, I hope you take away that we have to

put it on. It is not enough to know.

Of these different pieces of armor, but that we would must

daily pick up our armor and put it on.

I have realized that there are things that I can do in my daily

walk to arm myself and specific habits, specific time I can take

to arm myself with my Christian armor in many different ways.

And, and some of them we're going to we're going to discuss

today. There are ways that I know I can

better prepare myself for my day, for the second-half of my

day, for the last portion of my day.

I know that when I prepare myself, I am better off for it

spiritually. So what's my one of my main

issues? One of my main issues is not

putting it on is not taking the time.

Why not? Because time maybe maybe there's

other stuff to do. Maybe there's other distractions

or the responsibilities you have or I have, but a soldier does

not go into battle and say I don't want to take the time to

put my armor on. I'm just going to get out there

and do it right. A soldier does never do that.

Why? Why do they have sufficient

motivation and action and always putting their armor on?

I doubt you had soldiers run out there and go, oh man, I got to

run back and get my stuff because they realise the danger,

because they realise the fight that they're in.

And that's what he's going to say next, that you may be able

to stand against the Wiles of the devil.

So if I start my day without preparing myself in my Christian

armor, I'm as ignorant as a soldier walking out into battle

without his breastplate in his shield.

What a ridiculous thing to do to walk out there and go, I don't

need it, and then catch an arrow right in the face and then

you're dead because you didn't do the basic thing you should

have done. May we remember to pick up our

armor at the beginning of every day at whatever point, never

whatever point in the day that you need to remind yourself and

that I need to, I say at least daily, I have to do that to

remember to put on my armor, the armor of God, because we need

to. He said that you may be able to

stand against the Wiles of the devil.

A soldier puts on his armor and never has trouble remembering

because he understands the danger and the battle that he is

facing. Any other care to a soldier

becomes back burner. Secondary concern.

Why? Because of the Wiles of the

devil. This word can also be translated

schemes and from what I understand it comes from a word

that meant to stalk like an animal stalking.

That's prey, and that's not new language.

In first Peter 5 verse 8, we're told to be sober, to be

1 Peter 5:8

vigilant, because the adversary, your adversary, the devil, walks

about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

If that doesn't scare you a little bit, I would question

whether we're breathing or coherent or aware of the battle

that's in front of us. I would say today, though, one

of the largest parts of this study is reminding us, getting

my brain back in a position that will recognize the battle, that

I will not be deceived by comforts and air conditioning

and four smooth walls, but that I would realize the battle

that's going on because the devil is walking and he is

scheming. That's that's scary.

You have somebody working against you who is very good at

what he does. Not only is he very good, he's

been doing it for a long time and a lot longer than we've been

fighting against him individually.

He has been doing this since the beginning of the world.

So don't you think we need some armor?

Don't you think that we need something to protect us against

such a force? But you know what?

Sometimes I think about if I were to go up against an army,

maybe a foreign government that had some super special schemes,

advanced tactics, I would need something that's very, very

equal in in scheming to fight against that.

And I would think that I would need to be very prepared and

very trained to fight against such an enemy.

The beautiful thing is the things God has equipped us with

aren't so complicated that you can't do it today.

You couldn't fight a foreign governments Central Intelligence

Agency on your own right now, but you can fight the devil

today using the simple steps that God gives you.

They're not easy, but they are clear and they're not something

that can't be started today if you are a new Christian or if

you're trying to start this, he said goes on to say, for we do

not wrestle against flesh and blood.

What's he saying there? We don't wrestle against people,

against the humans that are around you.

Have you ever been frustrated with somebody?

Were you frustrated with somebody this week?

Have you ever wanted to lash out and anger at somebody?

Somebody really made you mad or really just made you think, man,

this world's gone to gone down the drain and they're just

frustrating you and that's all your brain is wrapped around.

It's how ridiculous or dumb that person is or frustrating Part of

this. He's saying we're not wrestling.

It's flesh and blood. That's not what this is about.

May we not get stuck in this kind of thinking because we are

wrestling, he says. But against principalities and

powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,

against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly

places, That's a lot of words used to describe things that we

don't have all kinds of clarity on.

But what we do know is these are this is the devil and his

forces. And scholars break this down and

basically describe that there are rankings of demonic power

just like there are rankings in military today.

Or maybe like you see with the angels that Michael is in

Archangel. Maybe there are angels and

archangels, angels and different hierarchies of angels and godly

ministers. There are also levels and tears

of demonic powers. Are you getting the sense that

there's a lot going on behind the scenes that maybe we don't

typically think about? We are fighting levels of power

that are beyond our ability to comprehend.

Some people get very deep into this, but the reality is we

don't know every nook and cranny about this.

We don't know every detail, but that's not an accident.

We have to accept that God gave us exactly what he felt like we

needed to know about demons, and it's not always a ton of

information. What do we know?

We know, as we try to state from I think up here all the time,

the devil has no power that we do not give him.

It's been described as a dog on a chain.

Great analogy. There is no power that that the

devil has against us that we do not give him.

In the New Testament, you read of some people being demon

possessed. Well, remember that's they were

acting insane. They were acting in ways that

were harmful to their physical body.

Does that mean that they were walking around being made to

sin? No.

The denominator possession we read about in the New Testament

was people throwing themselves into the flame.

It's like they couldn't control themselves.

It was an uncontrollable state. When you're talking about sin,

the devil and his and his helpers do not make us do things

sinful that we don't control. We have control over our own

mind and our own body. The devil has no power over him

that we do not give him. Now, the scary part is that

that's the comforting part. The scary part is there are ways

that we can give him power. We can actively give him power

when I actively sin and when I know what I'm doing is wrong.

Because we do that. We do things where we know what

we're doing is wrong, but whatever reason, we do it

anyway. Or maybe I just choose to go.

In the face of it, whatever you might say, actively giving the

giving the devil place in our life is one way.

Passively being passive in a Christian walk absolutely makes

room for the devil to come right in.

If we are passive in our Christian life, the devil has

already won the battle. You could say passivity in any

angle of your life, passivity and with the word of God and

with our Christian walk will always lead to the devil's

victory and it'll lead to his power.

Subconscious allowing. That's very similar to passive,

you might say. But letting the devil work

subconsciously, maybe you don't realize it.

Maybe I don't realize it. The devil can still do it even

when we're unaware. Paul thought he was doing what

was right and he was opposing. God's people.

Just imagine how many things we do.

At least Paul was zealously pursuing God subconsciously.

Or maybe in things that don't really matter.

Does this really matter? I mean, does God really care

about this? I don't think God really cares

about this. That can be a great way for the

devil to get a foothold in our life.

Does this really matter? Well, absolutely it does to the

devil because there are ways he can work his way in to our

lives. The devil has no power though

that we do not give him. We need to be very intentional.

Now, why don't we know more about how the devil works?

Because there are so many things we don't know.

We know just little snippets throughout the New Testament,

throughout the Old Testament, we know snippets.

Why don't we know more #1 Like we already said, God gave us

what we need to know. We have to have faith in that.

We have to have faith in any area of Scripture.

If we've done the research that there is to know, because

sometimes we just do need to do research.

But if there are things that that that we've researched and

there's not more to learn, we just need to have faith.

You know what? God.

God said this is enough. So obviously He's right.

He gave me exactly what I need to know #2 maybe knowing.

More wouldn't be good. Your thought about that?

You ever thought about that? If we knew more about what was

going on, maybe we would be consumed with it.

Maybe we would get so deep into demonology, Satanology.

That it would be too scary, too overwhelming, too much for our

human minds to to wrap our mind around.

Maybe so. People go rabid with demonology

already. Imagine if there was more

information. But I think maybe most

importantly #3 the story is not about them.

It's not about the devil and his forces.

God gives us enough information to know what we need to do and

how to fight him. But it's not about their story.

God doesn't isn't here to tell the story of the demons and

those who fell. He's here to tell the story of

salvation and to equip us with what we need to fight the devil

and to overcome him. So therefore, he says, after

telling us that we are fighting against the rulers of the

darkness of this age and against principalities and powers, He

says therefore, because of that, take up the whole armour of God,

that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and

having done all to stand, first of all you are able to

withstand. How many times do you get the

get through a struggle or get through a temptation and you

just feel like I just can't do it.

I've just messed up again and I've failed again or I've done

XYZ again and I'm just. This is where I'm.

Stuck. The message from God is you are

not stuck, you may withstand, you can withstand, and with His

power you will withstand. 1st Corinthians 10 verse 13 says

that He will not give us a temptation that does not have a

way of escape, but He will always give us a way of escape

so that we can bear a temptation.

We can win the war today. And that gives me confidence to

know that today's a new day. And he goes on to say in the

evil day that you may be able to stand in the evil day.

What is the evil day? It's any day that has evil in

it. So that's today.

That's today where the devil can have an influence and can work

on us that we can stand in the in the evil day, if that's

today, if we have a temptation or struggles in front of us.

But I like how he says it like it's a like it's an event, like

this day is an event. It's like a day of battle when

they're getting ready for war. This is the day of battle.

And he describes it like that, that you may be able to stand in

the day in the evil day. If we look at today like it is

not that, if we forget today and when I don't remember that today

is the day of evil where I have a battle to fight, then I'm not

going to be able to withstand because I'm not engaged in it.

Like today matters that much. Today matters that much for

every single person. Today matters that much every

single today day that you may be able to stand withstand an evil

day and having done all to stand after all is said and done,

having done all you know you can walk through a fight, the fight

of a day, the fight of a lifetime, and you can be

standing at the end of it. That's amazing to think that we

can win this war against such great forces.

You can be standing after a fight with the demonic forces of

the world, but you have to look past what's right in front of

you. Verse 14, stand there for having

girded your waist with truth. So the first item on the

Christian armor is truth. He says now he starts here

building this armor and I think it was partly because of the

Roman armor how it was built. It was set up from the from the

weight from the belt up because so many other things were tied

to this. Your sword goes in the sheath.

It's on your belt. If you look at their

breastplate, the breastplate is anchored into a belt.

If you have ever carried a big backpack with a lot of weight on

it, they always anchor on the belt.

It is a place of strength and stability.

And that place, he says, is truth.

We are to be girded with truth. Again.

I'm going to go back to daily suiting up.

It's not just have you know or have you learned, it's are you

putting it on? Are you putting on truth?

How do you put on truth? I believe learning truth is

definitely part of putting on truth.

Implementing truth, absolutely putting it on truth, marinating

in truth. If I know something but don't

marinate in it and don't soak in it, is it really part of my

armor? If I don't marinate in a daily,

is it really part of my armor? Or is it just something that I

have a piece of armor on the shelf?

Do I wear it? We have to put it on for battle.

Now why is truth so important? Because it is the exact opposite

of what the devil is. John 8 verse 44 says when he

John 8:44

speaks a lie. Speaking of the devil, he speaks

from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it.

The devil can deceive and that is his greatest technique

throughout the Bible. If you read everywhere, it's

deception, deception. Deception and deception can be

conducted in many ways. Many, many ways.

Truth is the exact antidote for the devil's greatest tactic.

It's against his greatest strategy #2 having put on the

breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate covers the vital

organs on a soldier and if a soldier takes a blow to the

chest area. You have a rib cage, but that's

not enough to get through to protect you from a lot of things

in battle. All these vital organs behind

the breastplate will be destroyed in an attack without

the breastplate. And spiritually, if we do not

have righteousness, what is righteousness?

It's being right, it's living right, it's living godly.

That doesn't mean we're perfect, but if we are not actively

striving to do what's right in every area of our life, and if

sin is just having its way with us, there is no shot of us

standing. I don't care how much we know

about truth. I don't care how much your feet

are prepared to share the gospel of peace.

As we're going to see in a minute, if I don't have

righteousness, it's a waste. There are times where I have

been weak in that area and I know people in my life who stay

in that area where they have man, they think they have the

shield of faith. I got strong faith.

I've got, I love the gospel of peace.

I want to share it with people, and maybe they know all the

things about truth that they need to know pretty much, but

they don't want to live holy and righteous, and they are dead

spiritually because of it. The breastplate will protect us

in all the ways and all the vital organs that will keep us

from the devil's attacks that would cripple us spiritually and

kill us otherwise. The breastplate of righteousness

is right living verse 15 and having shod your feet with the

preparation of the gospel of peace.

As the writer was talking, you know, this was during Roman

soldiers times. The Roman soldiers were fierce.

They were well equipped in so many areas.

And one of the ways they were well equipped was in their

shoes. And their shoes would often have

studs in them, a a kind of nail that would grip the terrain.

You know, as I think about the closest thing I have to battle

in my life is sports where you're, you're competing at the

highest level because it really matters, right?

You, you are, you are going toe to toe with someone.

And in our battlefield, you go toe to toe because you're

fighting for your life. And sports, we care that much

sometimes about sports that we do our very best.

We go as fast as we can. We go as long as we can and we

try as hard as we can. So in sports, if I am not

quicker than the other person, then I lose.

So take basketball. If I don't have basketball shoes

on in the gym, I will slip all over the place and I am no, I

have no chance of beating somebody else in basketball.

In baseball, if you try to run, swing without cleats on.

You lose your. Footing.

You have no shot without the right shoes because those anchor

you to the ground. That's part of your foundation,

keeping your foundation secure. You could go on and on.

The sports, every sport has a specific shoe to get them

prepared in the right way. And it's a small item, but it

really has a big impact on your success and whatever it is.

So he says we are to shot our feet with the preparation of the

gospel of peace. In the Bible, feet are a symbol

of what we are going to do. The Bible says blessed are the

feet of those who preach the gospel.

That's because they're going about going to do great things.

Hands are reference of our actions.

Feet are where we go the things we do and and strive for the the

frontlets. You're in your forehead.

That's a reference for what you think about South.

Feet are what we are going to do and he wants us to be prepared

with a gospel of peace. What does that mean?

Maybe it means that he we are motivated by the gospel of

peace. Now as we go about to the world,

as we are driven, the thing that is driving us to go and to do

everything we do is the gospel of peace.

It's what motivates us to share with people and to live our

life. Whether you're a preacher or

whether you're working a normal day-to-day job, our job is the

same. It's just in a different place.

Maybe it's how we're guided. We are guided by the gospel of

peace, that the things that we would share, maybe not just why

we share what we share, but the things specifically that we

share, those are the gospel of peace.

That we would reach the World with the gospel of peace and

that it would some in another way protect us.

If they didn't have shoes on their feet, sometimes they would

have nails on a battlefield. They would have spikes set up,

and if they stepped on a spike, it was set up in the

battlefield. They were done.

You cannot fight without your feet.

The gospel of peace protects us. It guides all of our

motivations, all of our reasons why may we be motivated and and

prepared with the gospel of peace.

Verse 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you

will be able to squat to quench all the fiery darts of the

wicked one. Often times these Roman soldiers

would have a layer or a shield made of either leather or wood

that was soaked in water because that water would quench fiery

arrows. If you shot a flaming arrow and

it hit a regular wooden shield or something else, it would

start a fire and it would destroy maybe the things around

you or it would cause havoc in your battalion.

But if you had a shield that was wet, it would quench those fiery

darts. So these fiery darts at

different points in my life, I have really identified with

this, this analogy of the temptation.

It seems like maybe sometimes there are great swings of

temptation and great blows to us, maybe from our life's

challenges or maybe from the devil, there are great swings.

But other times it really feels like it's just one arrow after

another. It just doesn't let up.

If you've ever seen a battle scene, what they'll do, what

they would do is they would line up a bunch of Archers and they

would shoot an arrow all at once.

Then they would have a second group reload, come to the front

and they're shooting while the other ones reloading and the

arrows just keep coming. Maybe your spiritual walk has

felt like that at different times.

Maybe now the shield of faith is what protects us from these

constant and devastating blows of the arrow of the devil's

work. The shield of faith will

overcome through it all. Something else they would do in

order to protect from the enemy. They would rally around each

other, they would square up together and you would have an

impenetrable shield if you were trying to attack them with a

with a normal infantry below. But if you came in with arrows,

no problem. They've got Shields that they

would interlock together. You ought to have people stand

behind them, protecting from above and around them to to

protect from the sides. There's good news with your

faith. You're not the only one.

There are people around you here.

There are people around you to support you, to help fight this

fight. You would interlock Shields with

that when the devil comes attacking, you don't have to be

exposed. That you would be able to lock

Shields and have strength and protection in your challenge and

your trial from the wicked one. Don't forget that verse 17 and

take the helmet of salvation. The awareness, the hope and the

perspective of salvation in our lives is a helmet to us.

It is enough to protect the mind.

A mind that has to process the temptations, the

responsibilities, the challenges, a mind that could be

beaten down by struggle, temptation, you name it,

salvation. Having a view of salvation in

our minds is enough to protect the mind, to strengthen the

mind, and to give us what we need.

Salvation is a wonderful blessing to protect us in our

minds. But I think it's pretty cool on

a on a more maybe a neurochemical level in the

brain, there's a chemical you've all heard of, dopamine, and

often times we think of getting dopamine once you know when

something good happens. But dopamine is actually a very

strong motivator. It's what happens when I see a

piece of fruit on a tree and I am hungry.

Dopamine, I get a rush of dopamine that motivates me to go

and pick that fruit. Or when the house is dirty that

I want and I look forward to having the house clean.

And so my brain gives me dopamine that urges me to into

action. I think.

Well, first they did a study in which they set up the subject

with a something to chase and they had, they had the brain

hookups and stuff and the dopamine levels were very high

when they had a reward that they were seeking.

But once they achieved that reward and once they received

that, the dopamine levels dropped back to normal level.

What does that tell me? Salvation is one of the ways God

sustains our mind because we've never seen it.

We've never gotten it. And that's a blessing in some

ways neurochemically, because there is always something for

you to chase. You never get to the point that

you've seen it all, got it all, done it all, because there is

always going to be something that we are searching and and

hoping for. This salvation would give us the

edge and the motivation that we need for our day to protect our

mind and give us hope for tomorrow.

Hope is a massively powerful thing and hope is partly there

because we don't have it yet. You don't have hope for the

things that are that you have so far.

Praise God that he allows us to be not there yet because it

gives us drive that we need as Christians to protect our minds

with such salvation. Now everything we've talked

about we're finishing up here is all defensive armor so far we

have. And also there is nothing to

protect your back. So retreat does not work here.

There is no retreat that you're going to be protected in a

situation where retreat is going to be protected in your armor.

But the last thing we do have is an offensive weapon and it is

the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The sword of the spirit is how we parry or respond to an

encounter attack the devil's attacks, and we have a heavenly

fight scene where you see it used.

Are you ready for a heavenly fight scene?

Matthew 4 verse one. Then Jesus was led up by the

Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and when

he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights afterward, he was hungry.

Now when the tempter came to me, said, If you are the Son of God,

command these stones become bread.

But he answered and said, It is written, man shall not live by

bread alone, by by every word that proceeds from the mouth of

God. Have you ever thought of that as

a heavenly fight scene? This is given to us so that we

can see how to fight the devil. It's not complicated, but are

you seeing that the sword of the Spirit, Jesus is actively using

the sword of the Spirit? What does he use?

He uses scripture. Sometimes we can feel like.

But yeah, but what else? That's not enough.

That was enough for Jesus. He recited scripture.

He had to have scripture memorized.

He had to have scripture embedded in his mind.

And he said that Scripture, how is it?

It doesn't mean that's it like, well, that's not enough.

It means that's all we need to counter attack the devil and he

fled. The sword of the spirit is our

counter attacking weapon. And Jesus goes on to do it two

more times, but the pattern is exactly the same.

Now I might add a word of caution as to actively attacking

the devil. That's not really how what we

see in Scripture. You know, there's some people

you might see have these long drawn out conversations with the

devil. They're rebuking him and and

passionately tell them all the things they're going to do and

how powerful they're going to send out their power on the

devil. That's not really what we read

in the Scripture. Actually in Jude one verse 9, it

says yet Michael the Archangel high-ranking Angel in contending

with the devil when he disputed about the body of Moses dared

not bring against him and revile the accusation, but said the

Lord rebuke you. So I don't need to go into all

that deep or have a strong position on that.

We know Jesus responded with Scripture.

He responded to the devil with telling the truth of God's word

in the face of the devil. But I would caution you not to

get too caught up in talking to the devil because that's not

really what we see in Scripture. Verse 18 praying always who you

talk to. Don't worry about talking to the

devil, Talk to God praying always with all prayer and

supplication in the Spirit that is to be real.

What being watchful to this end with all perseverance and

supplication for all the Saints. All that means is make sure you

do this and keep on doing this and keep trying this where you

talk to God and you plead with God and you honor God and pray

for each other and you pray to God.

And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open

my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for

which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may speak boldly

as I ought to speak. You don't have to be timid with

your faith. You may be figuring out how

you're going to say what you're going to say, but don't let

there be a timid spirit, because God has boldness for you in

sharing His truth, even in chains.

We could be an ambassador, a representative from 1 nation to

another, the nation of God to the nation of the world, that we

would share the gospel. Verse 21 but that you also may

know my affairs and how I'm doing.

Titricus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord,

will make all things known to you, whom I've sent to you for

this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that He

may comfort your hearts. Peace be to the brethren, and

love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus

Christ. Grace be with all those who love

our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.

Amen. And that is the close of

Ephesians of the letter to Ephesians in our study here.

That's our study today. And I hope you are challenged

and comforted and scared and then comforted again because of

what our reality is. What is truth?

Truth is reality. Our God wants us to know

reality, live reality, and stay in reality.

And it's a hard one, but we have every bit of the strength and

protection we need in the Lord, in the power of his might.

Let's do that this week. Let's put on the whole armour of

God. And if you've not started this

walk, if this is new to you and you don't haven't even joined

into the family of God and to his saving work so that helmet

of salvation can protect you, you can start today.

The Bible tells us that we have to common sense here to believe.

So we have to hear the word of God.

We could believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and

repent, change our life, that we would live righteously and be

protected by righteousness, that we would repent of our past

life, confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and be

baptized for the remission of our sins.

If you've done that, we have a second advocate with the Father,

Jesus Christ the righteous, and he continually cleanses us.

But we have to confess our faults one to another so that we

will be healed. If you need help in one of these

ways, or if you'd like the prayers of the brethren, we'd be

happy to help you today while we stand and see.